TEHRAN – Iran has freed a Syrian journalist working for Dubai television who was detained in Tehran two weeks ago, his employer, Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI), said yesterday.
Reda al-Basha (27), the DMI’s Tehran news correspondent for about a year, was not on assignment when he went missing near his home on December 28th, DMI managing director Ahmad Abdulla al-Shaikh said.
Earlier yesterday, Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the semi-official Fars News Agency the journalist had been freed.
Basha was arrested a day after eight people were killed in clashes between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi on Ashura, a day of ritual Shia mourning. It was the worst violence since the protests after the disputed presidential election in June. The opposition website Rahesabz said more than 180 people, including 17 journalists, were arrested in the aftermath of the December 27th Ashura protests. – (Reuters)